Character Analysis
Mr. Snicket isn't just our narrator, he's also a part of the Baudelaires' story. We get a few small details about him in this book, but—spoiler alert—his role increases as the series goes on:
- He's devoted his life to researching what happened to the Baudelaire orphans. However, he really wishes you wouldn't read about it.
- He was in love with a woman named Beatrice who died tragically.
- His room contains "a dusty accordion on which I can play a few sad songs, a large bundle of notes on the activities of the Baudelaire orphans, and a blurry photograph, taken a very long time ago, of a woman whose name is Beatrice" (11.4).
- A nearby town has "a law that bars [him] from coming within five miles of its borders" (13.38).
Hmmm… how mysterious. What kind of person would research the tragic tales of the Baudelaire children? How does one get barred from coming near a town? And why does he still carry the photograph of Beatrice after all these years? Questions like these just might get answered as the story continues. Don't you want to start reading the next book in the series right now?